Family calls D.C. emergency response 'indefensible'

Feb. 25, 2014
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by WUSA, USA TODAY

by WUSA, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - Almost a month ago, Medric Cecil Mills Jr. collapsed and died just feet away from a firehouse, while firefighters and other emergency responders failed to help.

On Monday afternoon, Mills' family members met with District of Columbia lawmakers during a council committee hearing called to address a series of high-profile public safety failures by the city.

One after another, those whose loved ones died after similar circumstances spoke at the public hearing, including Medric Cecil Mills, III, who called the response by firefighters the day his father died "outrageous" and "indefensible."

"What happened to my father is unacceptable on any level procedurally, morally or legally," he said.

The hearing followed the release on Friday of a scathing report by a District of Columbia deputy mayor calling for an investigation into the Mills incident. The report concluded there had been "substantial lapses in judgment" by the fire and EMS departments as well as a failure to follow established emergency procedures.

Accoording to the report, four firefighters and their supervisor ignored the pleas of passersby who ran to their station when Mills collapsed across the street. Separately, emergency dispatchers who were summoned via 911 sent medics to the wrong address.

At about 2:45 p.m. Jan. 25, Mills, 77, collapsed in the parking lot of a shopping center in northeast Washington. He was with his daughter, Marie Mills, who asked people walking by for help, according to the report.

The owner of a computer store, Raul Rivas, called 911. A dispatcher assumed the address was in the northwest quadrant of the city, Rivas corrected the operator, but other dispatchers ignored that correction until a second 911 call came in from a different person.

Meanwhile, people had gathered around Mills and his daughter. One ran to the Engine 26 fire station to ask for help. A new firefighter, who was manning the watch desk, put out a public address system announcement in the station to ask the lieutenant on duty, Kellene Davis, to report to the desk.

A second person drove to the station to make the same request, and the same firefighter made another announcement on the public address system.

Davis never responded. Three other firefighters in the station heard the announcement. One came out to ask what was going on but then told the new firefighter that they had not been dispatched and so could not assist, went to his car to retrieve some books and returned to the bunkroom to study.

"It makes no sense. It's horrific. I can't explain it," said Paul Quander, deputy mayor of public safety and author of the 13-page report. "The conduct is reprehensible. I don't condone it and we will take the appropriate action."

Mills, an employee of the District parks department, died that afternoon at a local hospital of an apparent heart attack. More than 10 minutes passed between the first request for assistance and a police officer flagging down a passing ambulance.

He arrived at a hospital more than 20 minutes after the initial call. In the event of a heart attack, the National Institutes of Health recommends calling 911 in 5 minutes or less; receiving treatment within an hour after symptoms start can improve chances of survival.

"It speaks of a high level of incompetence, especially when my dad loved this city and when he needed them they weren't there," Marie Mills said in an earlier interview. "As a human, how can you not come?"

The four firefighters face disciplinary action and will go before a trial board in March. Davis submitted her retirement papers shortly after the incident.

"If someone would've done their job that day, my dad could still be here with us," Marie Mills said.